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grumpyduck

(6,262 posts)
Tue Feb 20, 2018, 07:41 PM Feb 2018

Any good books on the history of America's interest in guns?

Okay, this is not about politics or the NRA or the Second Amendment or assault-tye weapons or any of that.

I'm curious as to whether anyone has done some kind of historical study (hopefully non-political) about why Americans are so into guns. Off the top, I can think of several possibilities:

1. The U.S was founded after an armed revolution so gun ownership goes back a long way.

2. Expansion into the West, which involved a lot of guns.

3. The Civil War - which might (?) explain why so many gun owners seem to live in the South.

4. Hollywood, John Wayne movies, gangster movies, cop movies, and so forth.

5. Hunting.

Other countries aren't into guns as much as we are (even Canada, which shared a lot of our expansion and wars). So, yeah, I'm curious. I think there's an interesting story there somewhere, and I don't think the Second Amendment, by itself, has anything to do with it.

So, anyone know of a good book on this?

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Any good books on the history of America's interest in guns? (Original Post) grumpyduck Feb 2018 OP
Michael Waldman's "The Second Amendment. A biography" Highly recommend it. underpants Feb 2018 #1
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